Despite new Newman news, many Silly Season questions unanswered
Reports surfaced this week that lame duck Penske driver Ryan Newman has reached a verbal agreement to drive the No. 4 Toyota for Stewart Hass Racing next season. Joe Gibbs Racing’s decision not to field a 4th team in 2009 likely played a part in Newman’s decision, and also goes to re-affirm the likelihood of Nationwide Series rookie Joey Logano taking the open seat in the No. 20 Gibbs car that Tony Stewart will vacate.
With Newman presumably off the market, attention turns to quasi-free agent Martin Truex Jr., who is in negotiations with DEI to sign a contract extension and remain with the team. Truex and DEI have a mutual option for next season, which DEI has already exercised. With the possibility of Truex leaving, however, his name has been on the list for other rides, including the 4th team at Richard Childress Racing and the Newman’s No. 12 at Penske.
Truex’s chances of re-signing at DEI took a big hit back at Daytona, when his car was found to be illegal and the team assessed a 150 point penalty by NASCAR. Truex reportedly also got into a shouting match with DEI’s President of Global Operations Max Siegel, because Truex believed that Siegel leaked a report to the media that claimed that Truex already had signed a two-year extension with DEI. Truex’s chances of signing with the team did improve, though, because Mark Martin’s impending departure has freed up budget space to pay Truex what he wants.
The fates of some smaller names and teams are also in question. Where will UPS end up and what will happen to MWR’s No. 44 and driver David Reutimann, if they leave? Will MWR and DEI be willing to run teams without sponsors, if money for next season cannot be found for the No. 00, No. 44, No. 01, No. 8, and possibly the No. 1 and No. 15 cars? Will Paul Menard take his dad’s Menard’s sponsorship to another team, such as Yates Racing? Will Teresa Earnhardt indeed sell DEI to investors? Will Penske’s new driver for the No. 12 be David Stremme and can they find a sponsor?
The list continues. Is Jamie McMurray’s future at Roush Fenway limited and will the No. 26 team be the one that Roush ships out as part of the 2010 mandatory downsizing for the company? Will Chip Ganassi Racing find funding for the now-defunct No. 40 team and will its former driver Dario Franchitti find a ride? Will Target and Reed Sorenson return to Ganassi’s No. 41 Dodge and if they do not, where do they go?
What about Petty Enterprises? Does Boston Ventures’ investment in the team help sponsorship turn up for the No. 43 team and driver Bobby Labonte? Are Kyle Petty’s days in the No. 45 numbered? It sure seems the team has less confidence in him, as Chad McCumbee is driving for the team at Pocono and Terry Labonte and his precious Past Champion Provisionals are scheduled to run the car in the near future.
Patrick Carpentier and Gillett Evernham report this week that the Candian’s future with the team will be decided by August 15th. His No. 10 Dodge has been a team that has run with an array of sponsors this season. Ray Evernham has said that GEM is open to starting a 4th team, to make a run at some of the available free agents, if the organization can find sponsorship. Terry Labonte replaces Carpentier in the No. 10 car for the Pocono race this weekend.
Other free agents’ futures remain undecided. Will Dave Blaney drive for BDR next season and can the organization find a sponsor for the No. 22, since Caterpillar is leaving? Who will drive and sponsor the new No. 23 team that BDR says will run next season? Where will David Reutimann and Michael McDowell drive, along with Regan Smith, Travis Kvapil, and David Gilliland, though the latter two likely will remain with Yates Racing, if their partially sponsored race teams remain in tact? Casey Mears and Scott Riggs are two drivers that are in search of rides, who have bounced from team to team the past few seasons.
With the sluggish economy, rising racing costs, and ownership situations in such flux, this Silly Season’s developments likely will be more numerous and of more magnitude than ever before. Stay tuned here every week, for the latest developments.
NASCAR apologizes to infuriated fans after Indy disaster
“I can’t enough say how sorry we are. It’s our responsibility, being NASCAR, that we don’t go through this situation again.” These were the words of NASCAR Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton, during a Tuesday press conference regarding the excessive tire wear and, thus, horrible race that was the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.
Tires’ wearing completely out after just 11 or 12 laps of racing, prompted NASCAR to throw out competition cautions throughout the race and fly in emergency tires from Pocono. Factors that caused the tire wear include the abrasive Indy track surface, a softer Goodyear tire (in response to complaints that the Atlanta tire, another horrible compound, was too hard), and the extra weight on the right side of the Car of Tomorrow.
In the press conference, Pemberton also mentioned that the testing policy, which contributed to the unknowns in Indianapolis, was being reviewed by NASCAR and will be changed next season. For the first time, teams and crews did not have an open test at Indy; the only NASCAR test at the track was a Goodyear tire test attended by only the few teams invited to.
The aftermath of Sunday’s race has been a public relations disaster for the sport. NASCAR and Goodyear both were defensive and non-committal toward apologizing immediately after the race, further infuriating already frustrated fans. Despite the apology and admission of wrong-doing by NASCAR, the governing body has not discussed any kind of refund fans for their tickets to the race.
Nationwide Series in Montreal this week, but not Mexico City next year
The NASCAR Nationwide Series moves out of the United States for the second and final time this season, racing at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Canada. This is the second race for the series at the track and last year’s race proved to be a barn burner.
Then-rookie Marcos Ambrose spun leader Robby Gordon late in the race, prompting Gordon to illegally take a place in the front of the pack and spin Ambrose. Kevin Harvick won the race, but Gordon did doughnuts of celebration, thinking he should have won.
Many fans and road course savvy drivers are expected to show up the racetrack north of the border, while the track south of the border is having the opposite success.
NASCAR announced this week that the Nationwide Series will not return to Mexico, due to poor attendance of the race and the toll that the long trip takes on teams.
This comes as a surprise to many, as NASCAR said it wanted to track on the schedule, to help increase the sport’s fan base in Mexico. The Corona Series, a Mexican version of NASCAR, will now race there.
Teams test at Road Atlanta
NASCAR’s current testing policy limits teams to a few tests at sanctioned Sprint Cup tracks per year. This prompts teams to test at tracks that are similar to ones on the schedule. Earlier this week, several teams made the trek to Braselton, Georgia’s Road Atlanta to prepare their cars for next week’s road course race in Watkins Glen, New York.
The No. 01-Ron Fellows, No. 1-Truex, No. 5-Mears, No. 6-Ragan, No. 7-Gordon, No. 8-Almirola, No. 9-Kahne, No. 10-Carpentier, No. 15-Menard, No. 19-Sadler No. 21-Ambrose, No. 24-Hendrick, No. 31-Burton, No. 42-Montoya, No. 43-Labonte, No. 45-Petty, No. 48-Johsnon, No. 60-Said, No. 77-Hornish, No. 96-Brad Coleman/PJ Jones teams tested, as did the No. 17-Roush and No. 40-Franchitti NNS teams.
The test session was delayed for nearly an hour, as crew cleaned up the track, after Elliott Sadler’s hard impact with a barrier during a crash.
Two-time Champ Johnson to make Truck debut at Bristol
Randy Moss Motorsports and the No. 81 team has fielded a truck already for young drivers Willie Allen and Landon Cassill. At Bristol later this month, a veteran will take the keys. Jimmie Johnson will run at Bristol Motor Speedway in the No. 81 Chevy, making his Craftsman Truck Series debut. The two-time Sprint Cup Champ has 239 Cup starts and 88 Nationwide starts in his career.
Georgia boys have decent weekend at Indy
David Ragan and the No. 6 AAA Ford’s quest for a Chase berth received a shot in the arm following the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. After running near or in the Top 10 all day, Ragan finished 14th in the race, and moved up a spot to 14th in the standings, 56 points out of 12th place. Brian Vickers’ blown engine and 43rd place finish in Indy also helped Ragan to move up that spot in the points. Jimmie Johnson won the Brickyard 400, his 2nd career win in NASCAR’s 2nd biggest race.
Ragan also continued to run consistently in the Nationwide Series, after finishing 9th in last Saturday’s race at O’Reilly Raceway Park. He sits 5th in the Nationwide points. Kyle Busch dominated the race, en route to the win.
Reed Sorenson also made the most of an ill-handling racecar at the Brickyard, where he ran well last year, driving the No. 41 Target Dodge to a 17th place finish. He moves up a spot to 31st in the driver’s points. Bill Elliott failed to qualify the Wood Brothers’ No. 21 at Indy.
Canton’s Chase Miller had a tough run at ORP in the Nationwide Series, finishing 30th in the No. 9 Ragu Dodge, for GEM.
In the Truck Series, no Georgia drivers competed on Friday at ORP, though the Georgia-owned No. 51 Billy Ballew Motorsports Toyota and driver Kyle Busch 8th in the race, which Johnny Benson won.
Tune in to the Bellamy Strickland 120 with Captain Herb Emory this Saturday, from 12-1 p.m., on News/Talk 750 WSB, for all of the latest NASCAR news.
I will be on vacation next week and so will the FastCar Newsdesk, but turn here again on August 15th for another racing news update.
